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| John Singer Sargent painting of the Sitwell Family; From left: Edith Sitwell (1887-1964), Sir George Sitwell, Lady Ida, Sacheverell Sitwell (1897-1988), and Osbert Sitwell (1892-1969) Date circa 1900 |
I most confess I have a very large soft spot for eccentrics! Britain seems to cultivate exceptional eccentrics and one of the outstanding examples is Sir George Reresby Sitwell (1862 - 1943). He seemed to come from a family of eccentrics; his father’s name was Sitwell Sitwell. When George was four he greeted people on his train by stating, "I am Sir George Sitwell, baronet. I am four years old and the youngest baronet in England." Early on Sir George came to the conclusion "that it is always a mistake to have friends." Three days after he married Ida Emily Augusta Denison, the bride rushed back to her mother. IN 1880 he attended a seance with the celebrated medium, Mrs. Florence Cook. When Sir George noticed corset stays peaking out from the ethereal veil of the spirit of someone called Marie, he decided to grab her and pin her down until the lights were turned on. The other guests were quite astonished to find Florence clad in only her underwear!
Sir George was very into the Medieval times and kept his home in the style of the 14th century. Which is all well and fine, but then he tried to pay Eton school fees for his son Sacheverell with produce from his farm and gave the children pocket money calculated from 14th century currency. Sir George was also an imaginative inventor who came up with a small pistol for shooting wasps and a musical toothbrush. Sir George felt one of his inventions was so noteworthy; he visited Sir Gordon Selfridge himself to promote it. He had invented the "Sitwell Egg" which was completely egg free. It was shaped like and egg with a ‘yolk’ of smoked meat, a ‘white’ of rice and a shell made of synthetic lime. Sir Gordon did not take a fancy to Sir George’s egg and it was never stocked.
Sir George was a writer of absolutely no note, but extremely prolific. He filled seven rooms of his estate, Renishaw Hall with drafts and diaries. Some of his titles include, Wool-Gathering in Medieval Times and Since, Lepers’ Squints, Domestic Manners in Sheffield in the Year 1250, Acorns as an Article of Medieval Diet, The History of the Fork, The History of the Cold and The Errors of Modern Parents. A plaque hung in the entryway of Renishaw Hall instructing visitors "I must ask anyone entering the house never to contradict me in any way, as it interferes with the functioning of the gastric juices and prevents my sleeping at night."
Not suprisingly Sir George was a bit of a hypochondriac and carried a vast array of medicines wherever he traveled. He systematically mislabeled each bottle to prevent other people from taking them. He enjoyed gardening and planning gardens and was apparently very good at it. He should have been as he would raise and entire lawn by three feet one year, and lower it the next. He would relocate full grown oak trees and move artificial lakes, decide it still wasn’t right and move it again. Perhaps my favorite story is of him attempting to decorate cows by stenciling them with the Chinese Willow pattern! I’m certain that living with Sir George was not an enviable task, but life must never have been boring! Long live the English eccentrics!
